It Won't Heal With Sutures
by Rosesqueak
Summary: One day, Stein suddenly remembers a friend he had from his childhood; and the memories that came with it. As he tries to go about his normal day to day life, he becomes more and more distracted by it. And the feelings that came with it. And although he tries to study it with everything science had taught him, he soon finds out that it takes more than dissection to figure this out


_Stein heard footsteps coming up from behind him. They were small, but dominate footsteps. As if their ego didn't fit their size. They stopped just behind where he was sitting on the ground. He became shrouded in their confident, arms folded, somehow menacing shadow._

" _So, you're Franken Stein, eh?" Said the figure. "Other kids sure talk a lot of weird stuff about you. I wanna see if what they say is true. I'm Jacqueline. You might have heard of me. Around here, people call me, 'Jack The Ripper.'"_

 _Stein didn't take his eyes off of the squirrel he had caught. It squirmed in his hands, trying desperately to escape._

"' _The Ripper?' That's a really stupid nickname." He smirked as he snapped it's neck with his thumb and it slowly stopped moving until only a foot twitched. "What did you do to earn that pathetic title? Tear apart a Secret Admirer letter? Shred some kid's macaroni picture? Make-"_

 _His mocking came to a halt when Jacqueline punched the back of his head. Stein jerked forward and dropped the squirrel. Flinching, he rubbed the back of his head as he turned around to look at his attacker. A snarl was on the kid's freckled, sunken face._

" _Ya wanna know how I got the name?" Jack asked as she leaned in close to him and grabbed his shirt collar, attempting to intimidate him._

 _Her choppy, scarlet red hair brushed Stein's bone white messy mop. He kept his expression uninterested, bored. Partly because he wanted to annoy her, but also because he genuinely was._

" _I like to rip apart things. Not just inanimate objects. That squirrel's neck was pretty easy to break, right?" She nodded her head towards the now motionless animal. "Just wait until you try a cat. It's a bit more difficult, but trust me, the crunch it makes is worth it._

" _Anyway, I've heard you like to rip stuff up too. Only you're a bit more dignified, aren't you? You like to_ cut _things open. How cute. You trying to be fancy or something?"_

" _Actually." Stein said calmly as he pulled her hand off of his shirt. "I like to study things. Not just tear them apart. What's the point in just dismembering? All you do is make a mess. But, if you dissect them…" He looked down at the squirrel as his eyes began to glow with glee. Jacqueline saw the lustful look and snached the squirrel off of the ground and waved it in front of his face._

" _How about we work together then? If you find things for me to tear up, I'll let you study it afterwards. And if I happen to find something cool, You can look at it and even kill it if you want. As long as I can squeeze it until it's a pulp when you're done."_

 _Stein raised an eyebrow at this offer. No one besides Spirit has ever been crazy enough to even come near him lately. Yet here was this girl, probably no older than him, who walked right up to him and tried to scare him into experimenting with her._

 _His mouth twisted into a grin._

" _Alright. When do we start?"_

"Stein?" A soft tapping came from his bedroom door. "It's time to get ready to go to the Shibusen. At least try to eat _something_ before you leave."

Stein opened his eyes at the sound of Marie's voice, his vivid flashback of his childhood vanishing in front of his eyes until it was nothing but a dream. After blinking a couple of times, he slowly sat up on his bed.

"Stein? Are you alright?"

"...Yeah." He said. "I just had a really weird dream…"

"Oh. Well if you- Oh _damnit,_ not the bacon again! Why can't I cook _one_ thing without burning it?!"

He heard her scurry away in a frenzy from his door and into the kitchen. After absentmindedly staring at the wall for a few more moments, he took his glasses off of his nightstand and put them on, watching the world turn from blurry outlines to a crystal clear image of his bedroom.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he half-heard Marie drop something and let out a string of curses even he'd never really expected her to speak. The other half of his mind was remembering Jack for the first time in a really long time. He'd completely forgotten about her. Or maybe he blocked out all the memories on purpose. He couldn't remember.

"Uhh… Stein? Could I get a hand here? I think I just set the stove on fire on accident…"

Despite having Jack in the back of his head the whole time, five minutes later he was dressed and out of his room. The fire was out, and Marie had gone through fifty apologies no matter how many times he told her that it was fine. When she finally calmed down and sat with a mug of tea and slightly scorched eggs, he started walking out the door.

"Stein? You never ate anything. We have time, you know. You don't have to rush out right now. You'll get sick if you just don't eat for hours!"

He stopped mid-stride at her words, whipped his head around, and looked at her inquisitively

"Why do you care if I get sick or not?" He asked a little more accusing than he meant.

After being slightly taken aback for a moment, Marie's expression became stern as she pointed to his chair at the table.

"Sit." She said firmly.

He sighed as he shut the door behind him. While he pulled up the chair and sat down, her face softened and she took a sip of her tea.

"First of all, the reason I care if you get sick or not is because I care about you. Is that so hard to believe?"

"But _why_? Why do you care?"

Marie set her mug down on the table and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you okay? You're acting really weird. Well, I guess weird is normal for you. But something about this is different. Is there something bothering you?"

"No, I'm fine." He said as he stood up from his chair and quickly walked towards the door.

She let out an exasperated sigh as he started to walk out the door again. "You really need to learn to take care of yourself, Franken. But… I'll always be here if you ever need anything, okay?"

"... Yeah."


End file.
